﻿With all of the bad weather, the third quarter got off to a late start, and it is always the shortest quarter of each year, but this time I am really wondering—where did the time go? The third quarter has now ended [Progress Reports will be available next week], and this is the first week of the final quarter of the year! The 2014 Science Festival on Friday was a great opportunity for the US science students to show everyone what they have learned this year, and the presentations were varied and inventive. The Lock-in Friday night was one of the largest we have ever had—the 8th grade students were the guests of the Class of 2014 and the Class of 2015, and we had more than 50 students in attendance. We had a wonderful dinner and spent the night playing ping-pong, gaming, playing Rock-Band, snacking, and watching movies. Thank you to everyone who came and supported the US Activities Committee!

The Class of 2015will have a Bake Sale on Tuesday, April 1st, so please stop by and support us in out fundraising efforts. This Friday we will have our monthly breakfast for April, so we have lots to do this week. ﻿Don’t forget, the Josten’s rep will be here on Friday, April 4th during Advisory to take orders and deposits for class rings!﻿

American Literature: We continue our exploration of American Literature 1820-1865: An American Renaissance—Nationalism, Transcendentalism, and Romanticism reading selections from two great poets:

If we get everything done, we may even be able to get started on Moby Dick!

Art History II: We have fallen a little behind, but that's OK. This week we continue with The Age of Revolutions by finishing up the documentary on Gauguin before moving on to several reading selections:

Post-Impressionism 2 and Art Nouveau;

Symbolism;

American Art in the Later 19th Century;

Twentieth-Century Art: A New Constitution;

Impression and Expressionism Outside France;

Expressionism 1: Die Brűcke;

Der Blaue Reiter; and,

Fauvism.

Reminder: The Virtual Curator—The Age of Revolutions Glogs are due Wednesday, April 9th! The information for this is on Jupiter Grades and on the class page.

Poetry and Nonfiction: This week we will have a final discussion of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek﻿[Reminder: the sonnet in response to PaTC is due on April 24th.]﻿ before looking at a memoir of a Polish Catholic woman who experienced the Holocaust as a rescuer: In My Hands. We will also be afield on Friday if the weather is acceptable, so please be prepared with eleven copies of the three poems you plan to share with us this week!

Shakespeare’s Tragedies and Histories: ﻿We need to finish the midterm project presentations! Once﻿ we finish these, we will continue reading out Julius Caesar. Please check your calendars to be sure that you are able to participate in our trip to the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton on April 16th [a Wednesday] to see a live performance of Othello! Permission slips for this will be available this week. In order to have that play read before we see it performed, we will make an adjustment in our schedule and read Othello next and read King Lear after we finish with Othello.

The Word: The New Testament in Art, History, Literature, and Music: This week we will continue our readings from Unit 11: The Letters of Paul:

Chapter 33: “The Christian Community”;

Chapter 34: “Social Order”; and

Unit Feature: “Augustine,”

before watching The Robe, a film about the difficulties of being a Christian in first century Rome.

World Literature: This week we continue the unit Encounter with Supernatural and Spirit Worlds, and we will be looking at a 20th century work, Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis. We may have time to work on Writing Assignment 1, which is due on April 15th [please check your syllabus for the specifics for this assignment].Reminder: your haiku and the pictures you create to accompany them will be due on Thursday, April 3rd. The specifics are available on the class page and on Jupiter Grades.

﻿It's the last week of the Third Quarter, and Progress Reports will be coming soon. Are your grades where they should be? Before you know it, it will be the end of the year, so if you are not doing as well as you could be or should be, you need to buckle down and get those grades up!

Friday is the Spring Lock-in with the Class of 2018 [eighth graders] invited to join the Upper School for the night. The Classes of 2014 and 2015 are the joint hosts for the party. We will be having a pasta dinner and then settling down to a night of socializing, gaming, and movie watching [Academy Award winners]! Get your permission slips and $10 in as quickly as possible, so that we can do the necessary shopping ahead of time! Flyers for the Lock-in are available from US Advisors.

American Literature: Writing Assignment 1 is due on Wednesday, March 26th.The information for this is available in your syllabus [which is available on Jupiter Grades and on the class page]. This week we continue our exploration of American Literature 1820-1865: An American Renaissance—Nationalism, Transcendentalism, and Romanticism reading selections from several authors of the period:

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: “A Psalm of Life,” The Slave's Dream,” The Jewish Cemetery at Newport,” and “My Lost Youth”;

Edgar Allan Poe: “The Raven” and “Annabel Lee”;

Abraham Lincoln: “Address Delivered at the Dedication of the Cemetery at Gettysburg”: and,

Henry David Thoreau: Walden.

Art History II: This week we continue with The Age of Revolutions by finishing up with the Post-Impressionists and moving on to Symbolism and art in America. So we have two documentaries and three chapters [or more, if we can] to read:

IMAX: Van Gogh—A Brush with Genius;

Gaugin, the Full Story;

Post-Impressionism 2 and Art Nouveau;

Symbolism; and,

American Art in the Later 19th Century.

Reminder: The Virtual Curator—The Age of Revolutions Glogs are due Wednesday, April 9th! The information for this is on Jupiter Grades and on the class page.

Poetry and Nonfiction: First we have one last presentation for the Poet and Poetry projects, and then we will continue reading Pilgrim at Tinker Creek—you should be through chapter fifteen by the end of the week! Your Cosmic Orangesproject is due on Thursday, March 27th. The different handouts are available on the class page, and the overall project instructions are on the class page and on Jupiter Grades.

Shakespeare’s Tragedies and Histories: The midterm project presentations are scheduled for March 25th! Please be prepared to present by sending any PowerPoint presentations to me ahead of time!The specifics are on the class page and on Jupiter Grades. Once we finish these, we will continue reading out Julius Caesar. Please check your calendars to be sure that you are able to participate in our trip to the American Shakespeare Centerin Staunton on April 16th [a Wednesday] to see a live performance of Othello! Permission slips for this will be available next week.

The Word: The New Testament in Art, History, Literature, and Music: Your midterm project, The Object Speaks—The New Testament in Art, is due on Tuesday, March 25th!The specifics are available on the class page and on Jupiter Grades. This week we will start Unit 11: The Letters of Paul:

Chapter 31: Grace and Faith

Chapter 32: The Power of Love

and then we will watch a film about the difficulties of being a Christian in first century Rome: The Robe.

World Literature: This week we begin a new unit: Encounter with Supernatural and Spirit Worlds, and we will be reading two very different plays:

Medea

Dōjōji

We will also discuss The Golden Age of Japanese Culture and perhaps look at some examples of Nōh drama staging. We will also talk about Writing Assignment 1 which will be the evaluation for the unit we finished last week: Travel and Self-Recognition in the Face of the Other. Reminder: your haiku and the pictures you create to accompany them will be due on Thursday, April 3rd. The specifics are available on the class page and on Jupiter Grades.

This week is an A week, and it wraps up with the Science Fair and the last Lock-in for the year! This should be a great week!